Disability Discrimination Suit Filed against Mount Kisco Condos

MOUNT KISCO, NY — The Bedford builder of Sutton Manor condominums in Mount Kisco, and the architects who designed the complex, are being sued by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

The defendants are three companies — Bedford Development LLC, Carnegie Construction Corp, and Jobco Inc. — Robert Pascutti, the sole shareholder of Bedford and Carnegie and the president of Jobco; and Warshauer Mellusi Warshauer Architects.

They are accused of violating the Fair Housing Act. The Government alleges they failed to design and construct Sutton Manor to be accessible to persons with disabilities.

“The Fair Housing Act mandates accessibility in design and construction," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said "Through this lawsuit – like the many other similar suits brought by this Office – we intend to hold these defendants accountable for their failure to adhere to the laws that ensure equal access to housing for New Yorkers with disabilities.”

He is acting on behalf of complainants Michael and Linda Tracey, Mark and Gloria Koller, and Ina Grober , who each purchased and moved into units at Sutton Manor in 2007. One of the reasons the Kollers, Traceys, and Ms. Grober purchased units at Sutton Manor was because the defendants advertised Sutton Manor as being accessible to persons with disabilities, Bharara said.

Ms. Tracey, Ms. Koller, and Ms. Grober each has a disability that limits her mobility. Ms. Tracey uses an electric wheelchair and Ms. Koller and Ms. Grober each use a walker.

Prosecutors said Sutton Manor was built and advertised as a “55+ Adult Community” and as being “[Americans with Disabilities Act] compliant.”

But prosecutors allege in the lawsuit that the building, a three-story elevator building with 47 units, a community room, and underground and outdoor parking, was designed and constructed with numerous inaccessible features, including insufficient clear opening width at, and excessive force required to operate, the doors to the elevator lobbies, excessively high thresholds at the entrances to the patios or balconies from within individual units and from the community room, insufficient clear opening width of each panel of the double-leaf doors leading to the patio or balcony in individual units, excessively high thresholds at the entrances to showers, and insufficient clear floor space in the hallways and kitchens for maneuvering by persons who use wheelchairs.

Prosecutors alleged that between August 2007 and April 2010, the Traceys, Kollers, and Ms. Grober, along with several other unit owners, repeatedly notified the defendants about numerous inaccessible features in the common areas and individual units at Sutton Manor and requested that the accessibility problems be remedied. Despite direct complaints from the residents, demands for a response to their complaints made by Westchester Residential Opportunities, Inc., and a lawsuit filed against the defendants by the Westchester County Human Rights Commission, the defendants failed to adequately correct many of the inaccessible features.

The Traceys, Kollers, and Ms. Grober initially filed an administrative complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”). Upon investigation, HUD determined that there was reasonable cause to believe that the Fair Housing Act had been violated. Thereafter, the Traceys, Kollers, and Ms. Grober elected, pursuant to the Fair Housing Act, to have HUD’s determination resolved in federal court, Bharara said.

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